Entertain

Definition: Entertain

Entertain

Verb

1. Provide entertainment for.

2. Take into consideration, have in view; "He entertained the notion of moving to South America".

3. Maintain; as of a theory, thoughts, or feelings; "bear a grudge"; "hold a grudge".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "entertain" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Note: Entertain \En`ter*tain"\, transitive verb. [imperative past participle Entertained; present participle verb or noun Entertaining.]. (references)

Bible

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Entertain

Aid

Serve; do service to, tender to, pander to; administer to, subminister to, minister to; tend, attend, wait on; take care of; entertain; smooth the bed of death.

Amusement

Verb: amuse, entertain, divert, enliven; tickle the fancy; raise a smile, put in good humor; cause laughter, create laughter, occasion laughter, raise laughter, excite laughter, produce laughter, convulse with laughter; set the table in a roar, be the death of one.

Attention

Verb: be attentive; Adjective: attend, advert to, observe, look, see, view, remark, notice, regard, take notice, mark; give attention to, pay attention to, pay heed to, give heed to; incline an ear to, lend an ear to; trouble one's head about; give a thought to, animadvert to; occupy oneself with; contemplate; (think of); look at, look to, look after, look into, look over; see to; turn the mind to, bend the mind to, apply the mind to, direct the mind to, give the mind to, turn the eye to, bend the eye to, apply the eye to, direct the eye to, give the eye to, turn the attention to, bend the attention to, apply the attention to, direct the attention to, give the attention to; have an eye to, have in one's eye; bear in mind; take into account, take into consideration; keep in sight, keep in view; have regard to, heed, mind, take cognizance of entertain, recognize; make note of, take note of; note.

Belief

Think, hold; take, take it; opine, be of opinion, conceive, trow, ween, fancy, apprehend; have it, hold a belief, possess, entertain a belief, adopt a belief, imbibe a belief, embrace a belief, get hold of a belief, hazard, foster, nurture a belief, cherish a belief, have an opinion, hold an opinion, possess, entertain an opinion, adopt an opinion, imbibe an opinion, embrace an opinion, get hold of an opinion, hazard an opinion, foster an opinion, nurture an opinion, cherish an opinion; n.

Dislike

Verb: mislike misrelish, dislike, disrelish; mind, object to; have rather not, would rather not, prefer not to, not care for; have a dislike for, conceive a dislike to, entertain a dislike for, take a dislike to, have an aversion to, have an aversion for; have no taste for, have no stomach for.

Feeling

Verb: feel; receive an impression; Noun: be impressed with; Adjective: entertain feeling, harbor feeling, cherish feeling; n.

Hope

Feel hope, entertain hope, harbor hope, indulge hope, cherish hope, feed hope, foster hope, nourish hope, encourage hope, cling to hope, live in hope; Noun: see land; feel assured, rest assured, feel confident, rest confident; Adjective:

Love

Verb: love, like, affect, fancy, care for, take an interest in, be partial to, sympathize with; affection; be in love; with Adjective: have a love; n. for, entertain a love; n. for, harbor cherish a love; n. for; regard, revere; take to, bear love to, be wedded to; set one's affections on; make much of, feast one's eyes on; hold dear, prize; hug, cling to, cherish, pet.

Respect

Verb: respect, regard; revere, reverence; hold in reverence, honor, venerate, hallow; esteem; (approve of); think much of; entertain respect for, bear respect for; look up to, defer to; have a high opinion of, hold a high opinion of; pay attention, pay respect; n. to; do honor to, render honor to; do the honors, hail; show courtesy; salute, present arms; do homage to, pay homage to; pay tribute to, kneel to, bow to, bend the knee to; fall down before, prostrate oneself, kiss the hem of one's garment; worship.

Sociality

Entertain; give a party; Noun: be at home, see one's friends, hang out, keep open house, do the honors; receive, receive with open arms; welcome; give a warm reception; n. to kill the fatted calf.

Thought

Harbor an idea, entertain an idea, cherish an idea, nurture an idea; take into one's head; bear in mind; reconsider.

Unbelief Doubt

Doubt; be doubtful; (uncertain); doubt the truth of; be skeptical as to; Adjective: diffide; distrust, mistrust; suspect, smoke, scent, smell a rat; have doubts, harbor doubts, entertain doubts, suspicions; have one's doubts.

Crosswords: Entertain

My Dad told me to tell you that he's on the phone with his dentist, and that I should behave myself and entertain you until he gets back (The American President; writing credit: Aaron Sorkin)

On our planet, we, uh we pretend to to entertain. Mathesar, I am so sorry (Galaxy Quest; writing credit: David Howard)

You are not to entertain visitors in your quarters (Quills; writing credit: Doug Wright)

And now, Miss Dashwood, it's your turn to entertain us. (Sense and Sensibility; writing credit: Emma Thompson)

We may want to entertain! (I Spy; writing credit: James B. Allardice)

Gazing at the ceiling as we entertain our feelings in the dark (Hey Leonardo (She likes me for me); performing artist: Blessid Union Of Souls)

Entertain us ("Smells Like Teen Spirit"; performing artist: Nirvana)

Here we are now, entertain us (Smells Like Teen Spirit; performing artist: Nirvana)

And we go cruising to entertain ourselves (Fast Car; performing artist: Tracy Chapman)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Books

• 38 Ways to Entertain Your Grandparents (reference)

• Betty Crocker's Entertaining Basics: Learning to Entertain With Confidence (Betty Crocker) (reference)

• Entertain the End (Everworld, 12) (reference)

• How to Teach Your Dog to Talk: 125 Easy-To-Learn Tricks Guaranteed to Entertain Both You and Your Dog (reference)

  (more book examples)

Music

• Let Me Entertain You (reference)

• The Four Seasons Entertain You/Working My Way Back to You (reference)

  (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Agriculture. Women on farms. Like many another U.S. farmer's wife, Mrs. Harold Sontag of Maple Park, Illinois, takes an active part in the management of her farm but at the end of a long and active day, she still finds time to entertain her tow-headed you. Credit: Library of Congress.

Vice Pres. Marshall will entertain the pages of the Senate at a Christmas party. Photo shows the Vice Pres. and the pages with whom he is very popular on the steps of the Capitol. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Emma continued to entertain no doubt of her being in love

Entertain him yourself, if you like

A fancy came into my head that I would entertain the King and Queen with an English tune upon this instrument

This was an airy and unplastered cabin, fit to entertain a travelling god, and where a goddess might trail her garments

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Business

The Romanian market, like all former East-European markets, is still cash poor. A company's willingness to entertain long-term credit arrangements, possibly barter transactions, and concepts like processing contracts will put it in a better competitive situation vis-a-vis others interested in doing business in Romania. (references)

Economic History

Romania

A company's willingness to entertain long-term credit arrangements, possibly barter transactions, and concepts like processing contracts will put it in a better competitive situation vis-a-vis others interested in doing business in Romania. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Expressions using "entertain": entertain doubts ♦ entertain hope ♦ entertain hopes ♦ entertain oneself ♦ entertain smb. to dinner ♦ entertain smb. with smth. ♦ entertain to dinner ♦ entertain visitors. Additional references.

Afrikaans

besighou (abstract, distract, divert). (various references)

Albanian

zbavitem (amuse, disport, disport oneself, frolic, lark, lark about), pres (amputate, anticipate, await, be asking for, be expecting, be on the watch, be waiting, bide, buck, chop, clip, coin, cut, cut away, cut open, detruncate, disforest, dissect, expect, exscind, fell, hew, host, knife, look for, look forward to, mince, mint, Nick, notch, obtruncate, poll, prune, screw, section, sever, shut off, sit on the fence, slash, slot, snip, take, Tarry, undercut, wait, ween, whack), jap pritje, gostit (banquet, feast, regale, treat), dëfrej (amuse, dally, jollify, joy, make whoopee, rejoice), argëtoj (amuse, beguile, divert, recreate, regale). (various references)

Arabic 

‏تسلى (fool around with, monkey with, play, sport), ‏سلى (amuse, beguile, console, divert, solace), ‏إستمتع (enjoy, gratify, hug, relish, reload, revel, slaver over), ‏إستقبل بترحاب, ‏إستضاف (accommodate, harbor, harbour, host, put up), ‏دعا شخص للعشاء. (various references)

Bulgarian 

угощавам (banquet, regale, treat), храня (aliment, bait, cherish, do, feed, indulge, maintain, nourish, nurse), чувствувам (feel, sense), тая (cherish, harbour, smoulder, suppress), каня гости, занимавам (amuse, exercise), забавлявам (amuse, divert, lark, panic, regale), приемам гости, приемам (accept, acknowledge, admit, adopt, allow, assume, buy, concede, cotton, embrace, enrol, enroll, grant, induct, meet, postulate, premise, purchase, receive, recognize, see, stomach, take up, uphold, yield), давам прием (receive). (various references)

Chinese 

酬 (compensate, repay, return, reward), 款待 , 招待 (Entertained, Entertaining), 儐 (best man). (various references)

Czech

vzít v úvahu (consider, take into account, take into consideration), pohostit (regale), pobavit (divert, tickle), přijímat hosty, obveselovat (amuse), hostit (treat), dìlat si, chovat (breed, cradle, Foster, Harbor, harbour, rear), bavit (amuse). (various references)

Dutch

recipiëren (receive). (various references)

Esperanto

regali (treat), gastigi (accomodate, put up), distri (distract, divert), akcepti vizitantojn (receive). (various references)

Farsi 

پذیراءی کردن (Lodge, Welcome), مهمانی کردن از, قبول کردن (Accept, Accord, Adopt, Matriculate), گرامی داشتن 1, تفریح دادن (Amuse, Recreate), سرگرم کردن (Amuse, Inveigle, Occupy, Please, Sport), عزیزداشتن (Nuzzle). (various references)

Finnish

pitää seuraa (keep a person company), kestitä (treat), huvittaa (amuse, divert, interest), hauskuttaa (amuse), häiritä (abstract, distract, disturb, divert, inconvenience, interfere, jam, trouble). (various references)

French

distraire. (various references)

German

unterhalten (abet, amuse, entertained, feed, hold underneath, keep, maintain, operate, run, support, sustain, talken, to amuse, to entertain), bewirten (to entertain, to host, treat). (various references)

Greek 

φιλοξενώ (accommodate, feast, host, put up, take in). (various references)

Hebrew 

לע� ו�' (cause joy, delight, gladden), לארח (accommodate, host), ל�"שתעשע (dally, fool about with, fool around with, lark, play about, skylark, sport, toy), לב�"ר (amuse, delight, divert, scatter, sport). (various references)

Hungarian

vendégül lát (to entertain, to receive), szórakoztat (amuse, to amuse, to beguile, to distract, to divert, to entertain). (various references)

Indonesian

menjamu, menghibur (console). (various references)

Italian

distrarre (amuse, amuse oneself, distract, divert one's attention, misappropriate). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

接伴 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

せっぱ�" (division, half). (various references)

Korean 

대� �하십시�". (various references)

Manx

oltaghey (bless, bless as food, entertaining, entertainment, grace, grace before food, hospitality, receive, reception, refresh, regale, salutation, salute, treat, welcome), cur giense da, cur cleaysh da (hearken). (various references)

Maori

whakanguhau-tia (to entertain). (various references)

Norwegian

underholde, more, beverte (feast). (various references)

Pig Latin

entertainay.(various references)

Portuguese

hospedar (accept, accomodate, board, hand in, house, lodge, put up, receive), entreter (amuse, divert, have, recreate, wile), divertir (amuse, amusing, beguile, disport, divert, exhilarate, jollify, kittle, recreate, tickle). (various references)

Romanian

trata (argue, attend, back a bill, banquet, cover, deal, discourse, discuss, doctor, handle, negotiate, nurse, physic, regale, serve, style, treat, use, work), susţine (advocate, affirm, allege, argue, assert, back, back up, bear, bear up, bolster, buoy, buttress, carry, champion, claim, contend, countenance, defend, encourage, endorse, Favor, favour, fortify, give countenance to smb., hold, hold up, maintain, pep, promote, prop, reinforce, sanction, second, speed, sponsor, submit, support, underlie, uphold, vindicate), primi invitaţie, primi (accept, derive, draw, embrace, get, have, let in, receive, take, take in), nutri (bear, cherish, eat, feed, Foster, foster hopes, Harbor, harbour, nourish, nurse, nurture), distra (amuse, divert, enjoy, recreate), delecta (delight, divert, feast, flatter, gladden), conversa (converse, talk), amuza (amuse, divert, recreate, tickle), întreţine (carry, do, feed, keep, keep in repair, maintain, provide for, store, support). (various references)

Russian 

развлекать (amuse, divert). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

zabaviti (amuse), nositi se mišlju. (various references)

Spanish

entretener (allay, amuse, beguile, delay, detain, distract, hold up, keep, keep waiting, kill, maintain, occupy, put off), distraer (abstract, amuse, distract, divert, head off). (various references)

Swedish

underhålla (alimony, amuse, divert, feed, keep, keep up, maintain, maintenance, support), roa (amuse, distract, divert, tickle). (various references)

Thai

ทำให้เพลิ�"เพลิน, ต้อนรับแขก, รับพิจาร�"า. (various references)

Turkish

eğlendirmek (amuse, beguile, break up, divert, feast, recreate, regale, tickle), oyalamak (amuse, delay, divert, embroider, put off, stall, stall off, string along, temporize, waste smb.'s time), misafir etmek (Lodge, put up), aklında bulundurmak (bethink oneself, realize), ağırlamak (dine, feast, fete, host, receive, regale, show hospitality, wine, wine and dine smb.). (various references)

Turkmen 

hцdьrlemek (offer, treat), gьяmemek (amuse, detain). (various references)

Ukrainian

ураховувати, розважати (amuse, beguile, divert), приймати гостей (do the honors, do the honours, host). (various references)

Welsh

adlonni (refresh). (various references)

entretenir. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations

Words beginning with "entertain": entertained, entertainer, entertainers, entertaining, entertainingly, entertainment, entertainments, entertains. (additional references)

Words containing "entertain": nonentertainment, nonentertainments, overentertained. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Entertain" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: enrtertain, entertai, entertian, entretain, nemertean. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: intranet, renitent.

-2 letters: arenite, ariette, entrain, entrant, entreat, interne, intrant, intreat, iterant, iterate, nattier, nettier, nitrate, ratteen, retinae, tentier, ternate, tertian, trainee.

-3 letters: attire, entera, entire, inaner, innate, intent, intern, narine, natter, neaten, neater, netter, ratine, ratite, ratten, rennet, retain, retina, retine, retint, tanner, tenant, teniae, tenner, tenter, tentie, tinner, tinter, triene.

-4 letters: aerie.

+1 letter: entertains, entreating, intenerate, tenantries.

+2 letters: anteverting, determinant, detrainment, entertained, entertainer, entrainment, inadvertent, intenerated, intenerates, interdental, nonliterate, penetrating, penetration, threatening.

+3 letters: antielectron, antiestrogen, determinants, detrainments, entertainers, entertaining, entrainments, entreatingly, eternization, exenterating, exenteration, fenestration, fermentation, intenerating, inteneration, intermontane, interplanted, intrauterine, nitromethane, nonliterates, penetrations, penitentiary, presentation, repatterning, unintegrated.

+4 letters: antielectrons, antiestrogens, antirejection, ascertainment, concentrative, determinantal, determination, entertainment, eternizations, exenterations, exterminating, extermination, fenestrations, fermentations, frequentation, inadvertently, indeterminate, integumentary, intenerations, interdentally, interlacement, internalities, interrelating, interrelation, interterminal, intricateness, nitromethanes, nonintegrated, nonretractile, overattention, penetratingly, presentations, reappointment, recontaminate, regimentation, reinfestation, reinstatement, reintegrating, reintegration, renegotiating, renegotiation, reorientating, reorientation, septentrional, stepparenting, tenderization, tercentennial, threateningly, uncertainties, unthreatening.